The principal is interim. Maybe charter schools don't have APs because that would have been a logical choice. I am sure there is a search going on for a principal of this school.
However, being against all charter schools, I do not understand why this language couldn't be incorporated into the public school foreign language departments.
The school has less than sixty students. Isn't it a huge waste of money to have a principal (being paid at 120K per year) at that school?
I think that small schools like this are all a joke. Teachers are stretched very thin while overpaid administrators oversee them like vassals overseeing serfs.
I think the school is a bad idea, anyway, and I hope it closes. As you said, we can teach the Arabic language in larger schools. The school I teach in (a very large high school) has such a piss poor foreign language department anyway. We only have Spanish classes. There used to be French, Japanese, Russian and Italian, but those teachers retired or left and the wise principals we had never felt any urgency to replace them.... The majority of students take one year of Spanish (where they learn "NADA")and that's it.
Let's invest in better second language instruction for all.
Schoolgal, I'm against charters, too, but not against theme schools. And for fluency in a language, just like in music, you have to start the kids early and you have to steep them in it. Music conservatories have been around forever, but you don't see many language academies, and we need them, for future translators, businessmen and diplomats. There should be a slew of language academies in our school system, not just Arabic, but Fr., It., Ger., Chin., Russ., Sp., Kor., Jap., Gr., Heb., you name it.
Parenthetically, it gets hairy when certain languages, like Arabic or Hebrew, are associated with a set of political or religious agendas. Raise the consciousness of the students on the cultural aspects, but keep to the main point of the school, to get that language into their bones. There's no short-cut. Music and languages are like surround sound, you have to be in the middle of it much of the day to really learn them.
Anon,
I'm not sure we disagree, but I will never support charters. Is this a charter or theme school??? And, the cost of running such a school is also a factor when given the needs of the rest of our schools. It is not I who have taken the arts and languages out of the school system, but those at the DoE.
And I agree we need to expand foreign languages too. I taught in an elementary school that had a band teacher, violin teacher and chorus.
Some teachers also offered Italian, French and Latin during our club hours
Those days are gone thanks to NCLB and pols wanting the emphasis on testing.
If this country is to remain strong in a global market, we must offer all the languages you listed as well as make room in the curriculum to teach
about the cultures.
I keep thinking you're going to run out of stories about hizzoner and the pathetic way NYC's schools are run. So far, that's not the case--unfortunately for you who teach there.
Schoolgal, I totally agree on no charter schools whatsoever.
I was commenting on your comment about foreign language depts -- which are great for the language needs of most students. (Wish they were as strong as they used to be!) But I'd love to see language theme schools, for total immersion, and particularly for preparing some students for certain vocations.
We have had theme schools for the arts, but I too would like to see a school for all languages--not just one.
Language is a bastard child in U.S. ed. Years ago I had a girl in 8th grade, an honors class, who wanted to attend West Point. An admirable goal, to me anyway, but I asked for her reasons. She told me that she was intersted in languages and had researched the opportunities and believed she had the best chance at fluency in several languages by attending the Army's Foreign Language School as an officer. She said the military took language seriously, while most college programs focussed on Literature she wanted immersion and fluency. Hence her desire for The Point.
It is SO unfair - inflammatory and inaccurate - to say that principal was "amused" by the intifada tshirt. I hope you're reading something other than the Post to get your info on this one - today's Daily News op-ed page is one place to start reading.
http://www.nydailynews.com/
opini...goated_her.html
I love that NYC would offer serious language training in a focused way. We need that in America.
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